Grace Eva McGeehon

Grace McGeehon

1920-2026

Grace Eva Bates McGeehon, 105, of Kalona, formerly of Indianola, passed away on March 6, 2026, at Pleasantview Home in Kalona. A memorial service will be held at Pleasantview at a later date, followed by a graveside service at Indianola IOOF Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given in her name to Pleasantview Home or Hospice of Washington County, Iowa. Peterseim Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Grace was born August 19, 1920, to Herman Leo Bates and Johanna Kaastra Bates at their home in Davis, South Dakota. She was the eldest of four children. In 1934, the family moved to Scotland, S.D., where Grace graduated from Scotland High School. After graduation, she worked for two-and-a-half years as the night operator for the telephone exchange in Scotland. She then attended the University of South Dakota in Vermillion for three semesters, taking business classes. Following that, she took a job at First National Bank of Vermillion, a position she held for seven years.

On June 14, 1949, Grace married Robert Cross McGeehon in Vermillion. They moved to Iowa City, where Robert completed his medical degree while Grace worked at First National Bank of Iowa City. Robert liked to say he earned his degree “by the sweat of my Frau.” The couple moved to Des Moines and lived in a residence in the basement of Iowa Lutheran Hospital while Robert completed his internship. They then settled in Indianola, where he established a private medical practice.

The couple had four daughters: Louise, Kathleen, Priscilla, and Marilyn. In 1961, Robert died following open-heart surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. From that point on, amazingly, Grace raised her children on her own, with the help of many kind friends and relatives.

As a young widow, at a time before computers were common household items, Grace typed term papers for local college students in order to earn a living. When her youngest child started kindergarten, she took a part-time job as a secretary in the chemistry department at Simpson College. The following year, that became a full-time position. Later, she was hired as director of the Warren County Homemaker–Health Aide Agency, where she served for twelve years until retiring in 1985.

A lifelong Methodist, Grace was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Indianola for 50 years, active in United Methodist Women and in many prayer groups and Bible studies. She was instrumental in bringing Lay Witness Missions to the church in the early 1970s. Her faith was profoundly impacted when she and her family attended a nondenominational camp called Camps Farthest Out. She remained active in that organization for many years and also became a member of the Order of St. Luke, an international, ecumenical ministry of prayer and healing.

In 2004, Grace moved to Pleasantview Home in Kalona, first in independent living, then moving to residential care, and finally, in 2017, to the nursing wing. She was active at Kalona United Methodist Church for as long as she was able. She also enjoyed gardening, quilting at the Pleasantview Friendship Center, taking field trips with other residents, and playing Scrabble. She remained fiercely independent and active until a fall in April 2025.

Grace is survived by daughters Kathleen Clabough of Seattle, Priscilla McGeehon (Ken Smith) of New York City, and Marilyn Pritchard (Kirkwood) of Elm Grove, Wisconsin; son-in-law Ron Herndon of Des Moines; grandchildren Carrie Herndon, Austin Herndon (Lynn), Robert Clabough (Sarah DeBonte), Scott Clabough, Kathryn Pritchard (Corwin Holzman), Sarah Pritchard, and Emily Pritchard (Areli DeAnda); three great-grandchildren and one more on the way.

Grace was preceded in death by her husband; her daughter Louise Herndon; her parents; her siblings and their spouses, Olive and Harold Hansen, Lester and Caryle Bates, and Leland and Nancy Bates; as well as her in-laws, William and Betty McGeehon and Kathryn and Fred Light.

She will be greatly missed by her family and the staff of Pleasantview, many of whom knew her for the twenty-plus years Grace lived there.